I totally agree with you when it comes to speech. My 2 year old (26 mos exactly) has always talked with a little lisp. The pediatricians are not worried at all about it, neither am I because he has such a big vocabulary it's amazing. He talks in full sentences, can have a conversation on the phone with his grandparents, answer questions in a full sentence. He has the greatest memory too (we don't know where he got that from LOL). I think if potential problems can be treated early on, the kids would do much better in school. For instance, my daughter was born almost 2 months premature. She is right on target for her age right now (she is going to be 18 mos), but she doesn't talk much. I do know for a fact that premature babies do have problems in development, but it might not necessarily be detected until much later. In fact, she has the vocabulary of most 2 year olds I know, so a lot of people say she is very advanced for her age (she has a big brother to keep up with). These children amazing in how smart they are now a days, and if there is a problem, that it can be treated early on. Good luck to all.

Yes very important that child having problems with speech have something done about before entering 5 yr. old Kindergarten. Sometimes it might take a person not close to you to recognize just what a big problem your child might have. In the state where I live you can get free help at the school your child will be assigned to go to when he or she attends 5 yr. old Kindergarten-You can get it free a yr. before the child enter school though at four yrs. Old.

I taught Pre-school and had in my class a set ofe twins that needed help badly (A church Pre-school) After I checked around and found this information out about the public school the mother took both the twins to get help at the local public school, they wold be assigned to go to when five. They were four.

I know an older child that is 10 that has a problem with speech that has never been addressed. The problem is one that most people would notice but her mother doesn't seem to care. The child is quiet. I am shocked that a teacher has not asked for the child to be in a speech program...but then again the teacher could have and the Mother's refused the free service.

I think it is neglectful to NOT have a child with speech problems worked with by a speech teacher or a speech pathologst. I feel it's just as neglectful as not providing glasses for a child that needs them. I know of a child that stuttered badly and she took speech for 3 to 4 yrs. to overcome it. She didn't start the speech though until the 3rd grade. So much can be done today with children that have speech problems, even those that seem badly tongue tied. Please see to it that your child before entering 5 yr. old Kindergarten's speech problems are worked on don't wait until they are older. Sometimes these problems take years to overcome. I would think catching them early could help the child so much quicker overcome his/her problem. It is well worth it to get help!!
~Lynn~

I agree that a child should have speech therapy before entering school. However, I strongly believe that before 36 months it is almost impossible (there are extreme cases of course) to tell if a child will have speech problems. Each child develops speech at such a different rate that it is difficult to define "normal" before that age. I have a son who was very difficult to understand at 24months. Now at 28 months not only is he easier to understand than most of his peers, but he is also speaking in full sentences often using prepositions. Four months ago I had people telling me you better get that child into speech therapy. Just today I had someone comment on how good his verbal skills are for his age.

I agree that speech testing and therapy is tremendously important, but, like Marianna, question the value of premature intervention. Unless the OP means hearing tests, I don't see the purpose or benefit of speech testing on a six month old.

I wasn't talking well when I was almost 3 years old, but I caught up and never had any speech problems. I just developed slowly in that area. Testing a 6 month old??? I don't see that.

We are in the process right now to have our 22 month old tested. In his case, it isn't just that he isn't talking, but that he is dropping so many words. At 18 months, he said - on a regular basis - about a dozen or so words. Today he says two. He just passed his hearing tests last week. (In a way, I was hoping that it was the tubes in his ears causing problems as that would have been so much easier to address.)
I have had so many friends tell me to wait until our son is three before getting concerned - you know, they all have stories about how their child or husband or cousin didn't utter a word until they were three and "look at them now..." But what the specialist I have spoken to have said is that, because the brain develops so rapidly during the first three years, before three is really an ideal time to have speech therapy, if needed. Sure, if there is no problem, then waiting until the child was three was just fine. But, if there was a problem, the child would have received much greater benefit receiving therapy before brain development slows down at 3.
We have had a ton of paperwork to fill out (for testing), regarding our son's development - just wanted to add that many of the questions relate to the child's birth and very early development - first time to make eye contact, first time to "coo," first time to respond to name, etc. Many things that are indeed relevant to a six month old. Also, in the initial screening process, most of the questions are regarding the baby's birth - was the child ever separated from parents for any length of time, how long was the mother in labor, what was her medical condition, was the child on a ventilator at birth, etc. My son failed every part of this initial screening - he was born premature because I had pre-eclampsia, went into eclampsia, he was in nicu 19 days, on vent a week... If I had only known then what I know now... I have worked so much with my son, trying to get him to speak. I knew he could be developmentally delayed due to his birth, but I would have sought out help so much earlier. ~ Suzie

I agree that children should get speech help as early as a problem is noticed!...It is much like simply correcting a pronunciation like "am BU lance"...rather than "am BLEE ance"...etc.
To not correct a problem in the very beginning of noticing it is to condemn a child to either months....maybe years of therapy.....and some never learn to speak in a manner that isn't odd to some ears.
One of my grandsons was slow to talk....and the pediatrician made all sorts of excuses for him, his brother talks for him....you moved when he was 10 months old....he has a sister that is less than 2 years younger...some children develop at a slower pace than others. Turns out he is autistic....was discovered when he was about 38 months. He would have benefited from treatment earlier....but my daughter had to practically shake the Dr. to get him to recommend testing.
Suzie....stay on that task....dropping words is a sign of auspbergers or sometimes autism.....I hope this is not the case for you.
Linda C

I just wanted to post an update. Our son was tested by three specialist through our state's early childhood intervention program and was found to have a six-month or more delay in his speech. We went through several months of speech therapy. However, we quit earlier this year when the state started charging a fee for this service. (We priced private speech and it would have been cheaper to go through private speech therapist than through the state.) Since January, my DH and I have gone back and forth on whether or not our son needed additional help. I am still not so sure - I am finding this part of parenthood to be very confusing! He mispronounces a lot of words - like bus is fuff, water is still some unknown gobble. But he is communicating with us finally! He can tell us when he is hungry, thirsty, etc. In just the past two weeks, he has started interacting and talking without having to be prompted. He is now 27 months old. I am very glad that we did have him tested and that he had three months of speech therapy.
Linda - I am sorry to hear that your grandson has autism, especially that it took so long for the doctor's to recommend testing. I do hope the best for him and his family. ~ Suzie

My 5 year old son has recently been diagnosed as autistic. He started school last Septembder but didn't get on well at all and was referred to the local authority for assessment. We never knew anything was different about him, we live out in a rural location where the only other kid he plays with (and that we have had to compare him with) is heavily autistic. There are no other kids within 5 miles or so.

We have today learned that he has been approved for one to one tuition at the local school from September this year, as long as the position can be filled for the additional tutor.

His main problem right now apart from tantrums is that his vocabulary exceeds his understanding. We were behind a bald man in the queue at the hardware store and he recites a passage from Father Ted, "It's a wig!". My wife makes a sow's ear of reversing the car, knocks a fence over and he recites a passage from a rally video he has "It's a hard left into 90 right into ditch"

Now having an autistic child is no big deal. With support from the local authority it's no harder than a 'normal' child. And the future shouldn't worry you. A cousin of my wife is also autistic and has his own successful business building houses wherever there is room for a clump of nettles to sprout.

I am glad I found this board. I have a 2 yr old son. When he was born, he ended up in NICU for 4 days as he was "floppy", and some other things. They did all sorts of tests, and never found anything they could pinpoint. He was 2 on Sept 24th, and i would say he has a vocabulary of around 100 words, though he leaves end syllables off alot of them(which i hear is common, especially in boys). He is not putting even small sentences together yet, and when i had him to his NICU followup appt (they do these for 2 yrs to follow the progress of any baby that was in the NICU), and the Neonatologist is very concerned about his speech. Says that he absolutely should be speaking more, and stringing small sentences together, and recommended that our Area Education Group come and evaluate him. I have read articles, and now i really do not know what to think.... First i was sad that they felt he was behind with his speech, then i read several articles, and i know all kids are different... but from some articles i have read, he doesnt seem that far behind at all.. if any.

I say 'baloney' - -

However, first I must say that I do not have children, so am not speaking from a 'mother's' viewpoint. However, I have a nephew and niece and have been close to several children.

My neice jabbered fairly early. My newphew didn't even start to make words until he was 2. He 'grunted' - - pretty funny, actually, because we knew what every grunt meant and did as he wanted! So he had no reason to say words. For example, he'd reach out to something and grunt. We'd hand it to him.

Other kids I've known spoke early or 'late' ...

My brother and SIL had my nephew tested as they were concerned that he might have a hearing problem and so wasn't hearing words that he could mimic. Nope - no hearing problems. Shortly after he turned 2 he started talking and caught up just fine.

So, 'baloney' is my opinion. I'm not a doctor or an expert, so am not saying that you shouldn't follow up. But keep us posted!

Hi i'm new to this, and my son is 30 months 2 1/2 years old, and he only talks when he wants too, he is very stuborn and throughs the biggest tantroms, he wont say sentences, he will only say short words, but yet he understands everything that we say. like shut the door when your done, and ext. I dont know how to go about getting him checked for speech therepy. I dont know if he would even do it, he is a very stubborn child, any one have ideas,
tricia